A new role has been identified for the major Alzheimer's risk factor ApoE4, suggesting that targeting the protein may help treat the disease. Researchers show that ApoE4 exacerbates the brain damage caused by toxic tangles of a different Alzheimer's-associated protein: tau. In the absence of ApoE, tau tangles did very little harm to brain cells.

ARCA Space Corporation has announced its linear aerospike engine is ready to start ground tests. ​Designed to power the world's first operational Single-Stage-To-Orbit (SSTO) satellite launcher, the engine took only 60 days to complete from when fabrication began.​

One of the most confounding aspects of Alzheimer's Disease is our inability to diagnose the condition with certainty until after death. Now, researchers are claiming a breakthrough in identifying the disease, even in its early stages, using a sensor embedded with a diamond.

As a Satanist, Mary said, she believes her body is “inviolable”—thus, a
mandatory waiting period with no medical justification that hampers her
bodily autonomy inflicts a “substantial burden” on her “sincerely held
religious beliefs,” as does the law that requires she be informed that
“abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human
being.”

Wednesday, September 06, 2017

Over the last few years a Stanford team has been developing a roof-mounted system that cools a building by reflecting heat into space, and the latest test has managed to use solar panel-like devices to cool water without needing any other energy source.

TL;DR
A large part of it predicted things that actually happened. Most of the things that have yet to be proven are completely consistent with how Russia operates. Despite the opportunity to discredit it by being more fully transparent, the administration has chosen to behave as if the allegations are indeed true and that coverup is the mission of highest priority.

Thursday, August 31, 2017

From a law enforcement viewpoint, the whole concept of radicalization is slippery to monitor and not that helpful in identifying possible offenders. What the research shows is that folks who eventually carry out terrorist acts tend to have other violent acts in their history. Time and treasure spent on watching ideologues could be more productively used by watching previous offenders. It seems they typically latch on to the ideology as a motivation to do what they already want to do and that's to just hurt people.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and policies in the United States are ineffective as they do not delay sexual initiation or reduce sexual risk behaviors, two scientific review papers show. They also violate adolescent human rights, withhold medically accurate information, stigmatize or exclude many youth, reinforce harmful gender stereotypes, and undermine public health programs. Abstinence-only-until-marriage programs have been widely rejected by health professionals who care for young people.

So now, can we just get on with having real science-based sex education programs?

Sunday, August 20, 2017

A friend of mine has pointed out that we could make great progress towards reducing our health care costs by making it easier for qualified doctors from foreign countries to work in the United States. Unfortunately, the Trump immigration policies tends to drive them away. And it's our rural citizens who suffer.

What's cool about watching research is that occasionally you see things that could someday change the world as we know it. Rubber is one of those materials has been so important that the ability to produce it has strongly contributed to the winning of wars and thereby the course of history. Imagine how our future might change if rubber could be self-healing. Rubber bands would last forever. New possibilities would open up for all kinds of devices and materials for medical, industrial, and consumer use.

Lindsey Rose Bullinger of Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs says,

Money matters, When caregivers have more disposable income, they're better able to provide a child's basic needs such as clothing, food, medical care and a safe home. Policies that increase the income of the working poor can improve children's welfare, especially younger children, quite substantially.

Researchers have developed a device that can switch cell function to rescue failing body functions with a single touch. The technology, known as Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT), injects genetic code into skin cells, turning those skin cells into other types of cells required for treating diseased conditions.

Tuesday, August 01, 2017

The USS Gerald R Ford scored a double first less than a week after commissioning, as the nuclear-powered supercarrier launched and recovered a fighter plane for the first time using an electromagnetic catapult.

Sunday, July 23, 2017

A batch of single-cell protein has been produced by using electricity and carbon dioxide, report scientists. Protein produced in this way can be further developed for use as food and animal feed. The method releases food production from restrictions related to the environment. The protein can be produced anywhere renewable energy, such as solar energy, is available.

This is food from thin air. What does it do to the economic structure if you can cheaply manufacture food from air?

First of all the agro-business fodder industry is in for a big upset. Food for starving people around the world, even in low-resource places becomes possible. The key resource is energy. Imagine a small-scale processor in a shipping container.

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease are different. But at the biochemical level, these two neurodegenerative diseases start to look similar. This is how Emory scientists landed on a potential drug target for Parkinson's.

Can you imagine fully charging your cell phone in just a few seconds? Researchers can, and they took a big step toward making it a reality with their recent work unveiling of a new battery electrode design.

A
team at Drexel University has used the two-dimensional material MXene
to develop a new type of electrode, combining the capacitance of a
regular battery with the speed of a supercapacitor, which could lead to
devices that recharge in a matter of seconds.

Disrupting just one night of sleep in healthy, middle-aged adults causes an increase in a brain protein associated with Alzheimer's disease, research shows. Further, a week of poor sleep leads to an increase in another brain protein that has been linked to brain damage in Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases.

Students at the Technical University of Eindhoven in The Netherlands have avoided the storage problem of hydrogen-powered vehicles by developing a self-contained system that helps power an electric bus using hydrogen produced from formic acid.

During my career I've seen workstations take over tasks that were once the domain of supercomputers. It's interesting to see how products from the gaming world are making an impact on the scientific world.

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QOTD

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.--Mark Twain

You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.--Maya Angelou

It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but just as much to stand up to your friends.--J. K. Rowling

I have a great belief in the fact that whenever there is chaos, it creates wonderful thinking. I consider chaos a gift.--Septima Clark, "Grandmother of the Civil Rights Movement"

It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.--Madeleine Albright

Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use.--Ruth Gordon

If you always do what you did, you will always get what you always got. --Jackie "Moms" Mabley

Never miss a good chance to shut up.--Will Rogers

In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations. --Iroquois Confederacy Maxim

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential. --Barack Obama

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. --Barack Obama

Countless lives were saved when I decided not to become a nurse. --Mildred Walton

The secret to a long marriage is to take care of your health.--Mildred Walton